Darkened Light
by KiwiWizard
Summary: SYOC Submissions Closed. Without the Luna and Sol Stones, the world is slowly falling apart. Ten gifted teens are the only ones who can stop this from happening. They will have to face unending days and nights on their quest to retrieve the stones. But with the Galaxy Clock in the hands of the enemy, time is more of a worry than ever before. Collab with PokeFreak45
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

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><p>In a tower, rumored to be taller than the sky itself, rested an object known as the Galaxy Clock. The Galaxy Clock sat on the pedestal where it had been since time began. It was secure in its place, mostly forgotten despite its importance to the world. The two stones inside it kept time in its normal pattern, nights following days following nights. However, there was someone who wanted to disrupt that cycle. He was known simply as the Time Baron.<p>

The Time Baron had done his research, painstaking and tedious, and finally he had found his prize. Standing before the pedestal, he reached out with two gloved hands to gently take the clock into his hands. He marveled at the object in his hands for a brief moment, then ripped the stones out of it. There was a bright flash and the room he was in began to fall apart. He had expected this and calmly took his leave, carrying his prize with him. As soon as he was free of the structure, he took the two stones, the only things that could stop him at this point, and hurled them from the tower. He cared not where they landed, the common townsfolk could do nothing to stop him. With this - he was almighty.

"Now then, with those blasted stones out of the way, I can finally proceed with my plan…" the Time Baron muttered to himself, grinning as he looked at his new treasure. The glass covering the ticking hands gleamed in the moon's light.

"Slowly but surely, this world will split apart, and never come back together…" He laughed maniacally as he walked away clutching the watch victoriously. "Then this cursed world and its stupid inhabitants will be gone, leaving me in peace." He began his descent, long black coat flapping behind him as he walked down the staircase.

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><p>"Hmph, that should be the last of it," a girl said to herself, dusting off her hands. Her eyes glowed a bright, scarlet red color and her left arm was surrounded with a black, deadly aura. The powers rescinded once she heard her teammate calling to her in the distance.<p>

"Amber, come over here! It's the Headmaster trying to contact us!" the female Flareon called. Amber sighed, her eyes returning to their golden yellow state as she strolled over to to her teammate's side. The other girl's red hair fluttered up and down as she bounced excitedly.

"At least that slowpoke finally did it on time…" Amber mumbled, peeking over the Fire-type's shoulder to see what was going on. She put a hand on the other girl's shoulder to force her to hold the device steady. On the fairly large tablet screen was a gruff man's face. His forehead was creased in anxiety as he looked at them through the screen.

"Headmaster! What seems to be the problem?" the Flareon, Maia, asked.

"Amber, Maia, did you finish your task?" he questioned in a firm voice.

"Obviously," Amber replied.

"Yes!" Maia said, posing with her fist in the air. Amber spared the girl a disdainful look before turning her attention back to the Headmaster.

"All enemy rangers and fighters were defeated. We were going to proceed to the tower now," she replied. The Headmaster shook his head, causing confusion to splatter onto both of the girls' faces.

"Abandon the mission. We'll get to the tower another time," the Headmaster said. "I need you girls to come back to headquarters right away. I have a new mission for you two, along with the other ones." That was all he said before the tablet screen turned blank, leaving the girls staring at a reflection of themselves in the black screen. Amber's gaze met Maia's green one and Maia stuck her tongue out. The Dark-type glared and backed away as Maia crossed her arms, pondering.

"What do you think the new mission is? He's never sent all four of us out together before." she mused to the Weavile, until she realized that Amber was already walking away. Maia gritted her teeth, angrily marching after her.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?!"

"I'm going back to headquarters like we were told to. I don't want to waste time speculating with you when we could go there and find out for sure."

"People can walk and talk at the same time you know!"

Amber gave the girl one of her trademark condescending looks and said, "Are you really capable of doing two things at the same time?"

"Ugh, how was I ever paired up with you?" Maia cried, throwing her hands into the air in disgust.

"I always wondered the same thing. Too bad I have to stick with you, anyways,"

"What did you say?!"

"Nothing, idiot. Now pick up the pace before I ditch you here."

"Gah!" Maia grumbled as she hurried after Amber. Unfortunately the pace the Weavile had set was actually too fast to effectively walk and talk at the same time. A fact which irritated Maia to no end.

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><p><strong>Authors' Note:<strong>

**Hey guys! I'm KiwiWizard and this is a collab with PokeFreak45! **

**Submissions are now closed, thanks to everyone for submitting!**


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

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><p>"And I thought we were late," a young man sighed. "Amber and Maia aren't here yet. Are they even taking this seriously?" As he continued to complain about the others' late arrival, his partner chuckled. His yellow eyes crinkled as he laughed and the way he cocked his head sideways showcased the brilliant blue tinge to his black hair.<p>

"It's funny to see you like this sometimes," the Frogadier boy commented. When those words reached the ears of his partner, the Magnezone glared at him.

"Shut up," the Magnezone commanded. The Water Type just continued laughing to himself quietly. A gruff looking older man shook his head at the two..

"Amber and Maia were coming back from a mission. Something must have come up," the gruff many their headmaster, said soothingly. "Besides, you have a habit of taking things too seriously, Gordon." Gordon rolled his greyish-green eyes and crossed his arms, covered in white from the lab coat he was wearing.

"I suppose our mission isn't important then," Gordon replied, his tone full of underlying anger. His comrade, Elliot, couldn't help the wide grin that spread across his face.

"Looks like Gordon's arrogant self is showing again," Elliot teased. Elliot's lanky arms made sweeping motions as he spoke, the unzipped blue jacket fluttering in response.

Gordon opened his mouth to snap something back at him, but it was interrupted by the front doors bursting open. It revealed two messy looking girls as they walked inside. Maia, the red haired Flareon, bowed in apology to the Headmaster.

"Sorry for being so late! We were further away from headquarters than we thought and we kinda got lost on the way, haha…" Maia said, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly. Maia's partner, Amber, crossed her arms and shook her head.

"What do you mean we? It was you who got lost. You even had the map for Mew's sake," Amber said. Maia's expression abruptly switched to anger as she spun on her heels to glare at the Weavile girl.

"What do you mean me?! It wasn't all my fault!" Maia retorted, placing her hands on her hips. Amber smirked.

"So you're admitting that part of it was your fault, correct?"

"Yes! I mean- no! Gah, stop messing me up!" Maia yelled, turning the other direction opposite of Amber's. All the Weavile did was sigh, her focus fixing onto Gordon and Elliot.

"Mind informing me why you two are here as well?" Amber questioned. Elliot cocked his head to the side, confused.

"Hm? Didn't you hear the Headmaster say that we were going to be on of this mission as well?" Elliot asked. Gordon snickered.

"Of course she wouldn't hear. Amber's listening comprehension skills aren't to the point where she can retain information," Gordon taunted. Amber's eyes flashed red, as she walked over to Gordon, dragging him towards her by the collar of his lab coat. The other boy was rather short so he ended up mostly dangling from the Weavile's grasp.

"Oh yeah? Well then, Mr. 'I'm Better Than Everyone', how come I understood what you said? I'm not deaf, and I'm not stupid. So quit saying I am," Amber threatened in a low tone, her grip tightening. Maia and Elliot watched on nervously, Maia shifting from side to side onher red boots.

"Amber, Gordon, that's enough. You're going to have to work together for this mission, so at least pretend to get along," the Headmaster begged. Gordon smirked, putting his hands in the air as Amber dropped him. But, Gordon's smirk slowly faded away when the Headmaster kept his gaze on him.

"We apologize." Amber and Gordon said simultaneously. The Headmaster only nodded in reply, accepting the apology. Maia walked over to Amber, placing a hand on her shoulder. She noticed the contact, immediately and roughly shaking off her attempt to comfort her. This only caused Maia to worry more.

"Now then, to the mission. This mission is more vital than all the missions any of you have taken thus far. Because of the danger, I'm going to send all of you and the new apprentices with you," the Headmaster said. Elliot's yellow eyes widened.

"New recruits, sir? But they're not fully trained!" he gasped. The Headmaster shook his head.

"They all know how to fight, and they've been given a crash course in the rings. They've sworn to see this through and I firmly believe that they will be of great help to you," the man explained.

"Um... What is the mission exactly?" Maia asked. "You haven't said yet."

"I want you to go meet with the new apprentices first," the Headmaster replied. "I'd rather not have to explain everything twice. They should be in the practice field."

"Okay! Let's go!" Maia exclaimed. Elliot grinned and walked beside the red-headed girl. Amber rolled her eyes and followed, sparing a glare for Gordon when she walked past him.

"Do I really have to meet them?" Gordon asked. He looked down at his feet, smoothing out the lab coat he wore.

"Yes Gordon," the Headmaster replied. The older man put a gentle hand on Gordon's messy black hair. "They're all very nice people and I'm sure you'll get along with them." He patted the boy's head one more time then gently pushed him towards the door. "Remember to be friendly!"

"Right, friendly," Gordon mumbled to himself.

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><p>The practice field was exactly what it sounded like, a large open space with a few training items scattered around. There were six people in the field, four standing together, talking. Two were not with the main group. One of these people was a Frosslass girl with long white hair who was hitting one of the punching bags. She was clearly used to fighting and she breezed through the workout, not even bothering to shed her large white hoodie as she trained.<p>

The other odd one out was a Pachirisu boy who was excitedly walking around the field and inspecting everything. His white hair gleamed in the sun, the blue tips showing up vividly. When Maia, Amber and Elliot came out onto the field the boy straightened up, brushed off his white sweater and white shorts with his gloved hands and rushed over to the group of four.

The Froslass girl stopped hitting the practice dummy and joined the mob as well.

"Hey there!" Maia greeted, smiling brightly at them.

"Hey-ooh!" replied one of the recruits, a male Raichu. He had blond hair and was wearing a light brown coat, a gold and white shirt and black pants.

"What does that mean?" Elliot wondered.

"It means he's stupid," Amber grumbled, crossing her arms over the black tank top she was wearing.

"Maybe that's a traditional greeting in his hometown," Maia defended, one of her handsreaching up to fiddle with the cream colored scarf around her neck, something she tended to do when she was uncomfortable.

"He keeps saying that," one of the other recruits said. "He hasn't said anything else." This one was a female Volcarona, a rather pretty girl with long black hair pulled back by a red headband. The girl wore a white cloak over a black and white striped shirt and a short red skirt.

"Right..." Maia said. "Uh, well anyway, I'm Maia! This is Elliot, Amber and Gordon!" The Magnezone had come out onto the field while they were discussing the Raichu. "So how about you all introduce yourselves?"

"Hey-ooh!" announced the Raichu.

"Is there actually something wrong with him or is he just an idiot?" wondered Amber.

"Is your name Hey-ooh?" Elliot suggested.

"Hey-ooh!"

"Headmaster said his name was Ian," the Froslass girl who had been practicing supplied.

"Okay, that's Ian," Maia said. "I won't be forgetting who he is anytime soon."

"I'm Skylar, but just call me Sky," the Froslass added.

"My name is Lily," said the Volcarona who had spoken up earlier, giving the veterans a small curtsey. "Lillian Zekka."

"Xavier, at your service!" the white haired boy said, his blue-grey eyes sparkling with excitement.

"I am Penelope, n-nice to meet you," a female Milotic said quietly, smiling kindly. She stood behind the others hiding most of herself so just the top of her auburn hair could be seen. The raven haired boy next to Penelope stayed silent, avoiding eye contact with everyone in the room. "T-this is Anthony," Penelope introduced. Maia nodded her head.

"So have you all learned about the rings yet?" Maia asked. A few of the recruits lifted their hands to show off silver bands wrapped around one finger on their hands.

"Hey-ooh!" Ian said cheerfully.

"Perhaps he has brain damage of some kind," Gordon suggested, looking at the boy speculatively.

"Maybe he just likes saying Hey-ooh," Elliot countered.

"He's annoying," Amber spat. "Who cares why he is that way?"

Ignoring the conversation of her fellow veterans, Maia spoke to the recruits. "If someone other than Ian could answer questions from now on that would be appreciated."

"Hey-ooh..." Ian said disappointedly.

"You don't speak 'hey-ooh'?" Xavier asked.

"I'm not fluent, no. How much have you been told about your rings?"

Xavier cut Ian off before he could release another hey-ooh. "They have elemental powers," Xavier answered.

"Right," Maia agreed. "Each ring has an element, and wearing it gives you complete mastery over that element, even more so than our nature does. I'm a Flareon, but my ability to control flames are limited to the ones I create myself. With my ring I can control all fire." here Maia lifted her right hand to show off the silver ring on her finger. Her ring was the same basic shape as the recruits' rings, a silver band with a symbol on the top. Maia's had the symbol for flame. Where hers differed from the recruits' rings was around the symbol. While the symbol was the only adornment on the recruits' rings, Maia's ring had a design of flames spiraling out from the center as well as a small red gemstone embedded on the side.

"Using the rings takes a lot of practice, Gordon added. "Use them as a last resort until you're better trained."

"How does your ring really help anyway?" Sky asked Maia skeptically. "Why do you need to control other flames?"

"I'll give you an example," Maia replied. "If I were to find a burning building, as a Flareon I can't do anything to put it out. I can add fire, but I can't remove it. With my ring, I can put the fire out like that." She snapped her fingers, the grey gloves she was wearing muffling the sound.

"I suppose that's useful," Sky mused.

"Well, with that out of the way, I suppose you guys already know about our mission?" the Flareon asked.

"Hey-ooh!" Ian replied, basically telling the four that he knew. Amber, who was getting annoyed with Ian's one worded answers, walked over to Maia.

"If he says another 'hey-ooh', do I get the permission to snap his neck?" Amber whispered in an irritated voice. Maia shot a glare at her, denying the possibility automatically.

"If you shut up about him for a while, I'll buy you a lemon pastry from the store later on today. Deal?" Maia hissed back. Amber's face turned pink from embarrassment, sighing and crossing her arms.

"Deal." she replied quickly. Maia smiled.

"Works every time~" she thought in her head, giggling. Gordon cleared his throat, catching everyone's attention.

"Do you all understand that you need to take this mission seriously? If any of you don't give this your full effort the world ending could be your fault," Gordon explained. Elliot nodded, agreeing with his partner.

"That's right! If you don't put in enough effort, it's game over." Elliot said.

"On that note I believe it's time I told you the circumstances surrounding this mission," the Headmaster declared as he came out onto the field. Everyone's heads turned toward the older man as he slowly approached the group.

"What do you mean the circumstances?" Lily asked, curious.

On a number pad near the door, he pressed some of the buttons and a large screen popped up in the middle of the field, displaying a picture of a golden clock with two gem-like stones inside it.

"What's that supposed to be?" Elliot asked head cocked to the side as he studied the image.

"This is the Galaxy Clock. The two treasures that power it is the Sol and Luna Stones. Without those two stones, the Galaxy Clock loses its track and control over time and space, causing the world to slowly crumble." the Headmaster informed.

"So… what does that have to do with our mission?" Sky inquired. The Headmaster sighed and looked gravely at the image of the Galaxy Clock.

"Recently, a man that goes by the name of the Time Baron stole the clock. The first thing he did was remove the Sol and Luna stones from it. Without them, the world is doomed," he said. Maia gasped.

"How do we stop that from happening? Find the stones? Do we know where they are?" Maia questioned, feeling worried. Amber eyed her partner, but didn't say anything.

"The Baron obtained the clock a few days ago and the effects have already begun to show themselves. The world has been split into night and day. From what information I have been able to gather, I believe that one of the stones is on the night side and the other on the day side," the Headmaster informed. "As I have said, haste is of utmost importance to this mission and we simply can't waste time going after them one at a time. Because of this, you ten will be in two groups of five, one led by Maia and Amber, the other by Gordon and Elliot. I am sorry that your first real mission is going to be so dangerous, but we have no choice but to send all of you. Now we should go to the teleporters in the back so that I can send you all to your designated areas. I'll explain the rest of the mission then. Is that clear?" Lily raised her hand.

"How come you won't tell us the rest of the task now?" she asked.

"It's easier to explain the situation once you actually get there, so we'll be doing explanations later." the Headmaster replied.

The Headmaster led the way back inside and into a large room with several round plates on the floor. These plates were the bases of the transporter pads.

"We need to split the recruits. Anyone have any preferences?"

Ian immediately grabbed Amber's arm and said, "Hey-ooh!"

Amber's eyes glowed red and Maia hastily pulled Ian's arm off the Weavile and put herself between them.

"So Ian is going with Maia and Amber then," the Headmaster said, ignoring the look of pure rage Amber sent his way. The others sorted themselves out less obtrusively until it ended with Ian, Lily and Xavier on Amber's group and Penelope, Anthony and Skylar on Gordon's group.

"I'll make contact when you've reached your destinations," the Headmaster assured them. He walked to the controls, a board full of lights and buttons as the two groups took positions on two different plates. The Headmaster spared them one last, sad look, then powered up the device. "Good luck," he said as the two groups faded in the teleport. "All our hopes lie with you."

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><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong>

**Thank you for all the submissions, if your character is not in this chapter, don't worry, your character is still in the story, they're just not one of the main ten.**

**Character credits:**

**Gordon - WereDragon EX**

**Elliot - **OPFan37** **

**Lily - TreblePlayer67**

**Ian - reven228**

**Penelope - Calm Minds**

**Anthony - **SheikahZangetsu****

**Xavier - W. R. Winters**

**Skylar - mafisomai**


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

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><p><em>Maia POV<em>

White energy engulfed us all as the teleported shot us off to wherever it was Headmaster wanted us. I hated teleporting. Absolutely hated it. The first time you use a teleporter, it feels awful. You get squished and stretched and don't even really feel like a person anymore, then suddenly you're back to normal but somewhere completely different. The whole experience made me so nauseous the first time that I threw up.

The one big lie everyone tells is that it gets better the more you teleport. It doesn't. I feel just as awful as I did the first time, the only difference is that I don't throw up now. Which is good, Amber would either be furious or make mean comments if I did. Probably both.

I shook off the lingering nausea and looked up at the sky. The sun hung above us, high in the sky. "I guess we're in the day zone then," I commented.

"Really?" Amber replied dryly. "How long did it take you to figure that out?" I decided against admitting that I had only just noticed.

I turned away from the sun to look at the three newbies. It was possibly their first teleport, but they seemed to be holding up quite well. None of them were puking anyway, so they were doing better than my first time. Xander and Ian actually seemed almost unaffected, just a hint of green to their cheerful expressions to indicate otherwise. Lily was the most clearly unhappy and had sat down in the dirt, dragging her white cape to cover her head so that only the top of her black hair could be seen.

"So now that we're all going on this mission together, maybe we should get to know each other a bit better," I suggested, hoping a conversation would help get over the teleportation experience.

"I don't care who they are," Amber grumbled beside me.

"Hey-ooh!" Ian announced. He stood proudly with his arms crossed, as if he'd just said something profound. He was rather tall, the tallest in the group and his bright yellow hair stood out like a beacon. At least with that hair we won't lose him easily. His eyes were yellow as well, and generally displayed happiness. He was slim, though still appeared fit.

"So, you're Ian and you like saying 'Hey-ooh'," I surmised.

"Hey-ooh!" Ian replied lifting one of his brown gloved fingers to give me a thumbs up.

"Anyone else?" I prompted.

"My name is Lillian Clara Zekka," Lily replied. She stood next to Ian, several inches shorter than the Raichu. Her long black hair was held back by a red hair band which matched her red skirt. Her top was black and white striped, her boots black with a teal border. Over all of this she wore a white cape, a pattern of wings printed on it. "I like chocolate and reading. I dislike loud things and stress."

"Reading is a worthy pass time," Amber said with a nod. Lily's teal eyes lit up at the praise.

"I like collecting things," Xavier commented. He was of average height, similar to Lily though he tended to slouch more than the proper girl. Atop his head, amidst the blue-tipped white hair, were two Pachirisu ears. He had the tail to match, the appendage appearing from behind the boy's white shorts. His blue-grey eyes were constantly alight with mischief, a fact which alarmed me slightly. He wore a baggy white sweater over a light blue top and had sky-blue fingerless gloves on his constantly moving hands.

"By collecting, you mean things like stamps?" I asked hopefully.

There was a long pause, then Xavier said, "Yeah! Like stamps!" Not very convincing. I better keep a close watch on my stuff.

"Okay, since we're done with introductions, can we please continue the mission?" Amber questioned, her arms crossed as she tapped her foot constantly against the floor. I sighed.

"Must you always be the party pooper…" I muttered to myself, trying my best not to let it reach Amber. To my misfortune, however, she shot me a glare, her eyes changing to their evil red state.

"Mind saying that again, dear partner?" she demanded, cracking her knuckles. I shook a little, putting my hands up in defense.

"W-What are you talking about? I was just talking about what a great person you are, hahaha…." I replied. I turned to the new guys. "Right?" I asked them. Lily just sighed, shaking her head while the other two nodded happily. Amber rolled her eyes, their golden color returning. This made me sigh in relief; as long as her eyes are not red with fury, I'll live for a couple more days.

A sudden buzz went off in my bag, causing me to jump. I pulled out the tablet, surprised that I could still get reception in a remote place like here, and noticed the Headmaster was trying to call us. I pressed a couple of buttons, and the screen showed the Headmaster's face, along with a small screen of Gordon's arrogant face off to the side.

"Have all of you arrived safely to your destinations?" the Headmaster asked. I saw Gordon give a small nod as I did the same. The rest of my group gathered around me to hear the conversation.

"Good. Now then, tell me which zone you are currently in," he said.

"Our group is in the day zone, so Gordon and Elliot's group must be in the night zone, correct?" Amber replied. Gordon nodded his head.

"That's right. I'm surprised you caught that without me pointing it out this time," Gordon said, smirking. Amber just rolled her eyes, knowing that if she were to cause a ruckus now, it'd only make this mission worse.

"Great," the Headmaster said, bowing his head slightly with relief. "The Sol stone is in your zone Maia, and the Luna stone in Gordon's."

"So we're looking for the Sol stone," I mused. "Do you have any idea where to look?" I glanced around myself at the area we'd landed in. We were standing in a large, grassy field, no buildings in sight. I wouldn't even know which direction to start walking to find a town, much less a single stone.

"Sorry," Headmaster said regretfully. "If I were able to track the stones directly I'd have sent you straight to them."

"That was obvious," Gordon said, rolling his eyes at me.

"Shut up," Amber growled. She liked to be mean to me, but she tended to defend me when other people were rude to me. I honestly have no idea if she actually thinks of me as her friend or not. I hope she does, I think of her as mine, but I can never really tell what she's thinking.

Headmaster waited, impatience written on his face, for Gordon and Amber to stop bickering, then he continued speaking. "I can't send you to the stones directly, but I have put an app on your tablets that tracks strong magical energy. Unfortunately, the Sol and Luna stones are not the only magical objects around, but they are the strongest so hopefully the app will track them instead of other things."

I pushed the conversation (and Gordon and Headmaster's heads) off to the side and opened the app Headmaster referred to. A window opened up, completely filled in black. Then small motes of light gradually began to appear and pointed off somewhere to my left. "It looks like I have a signal," I commented.

"So do we!" Elliot exclaimed, his head appearing briefly over Gordon's before disappearing again.

"You must find those stones as soon as possible," Headmaster reminded us. "Good luck, and if you need me, I'll be right here."

"Thank you, Headmaster," I replied.

"Hey-ooh!" Ian exclaimed as I closed the conversation window.

"You!" Amber exclaimed, pointing a black gloved finger at him. "No more hey-ooh's!"

"Hey-ooh..." At Ian's completely devastated look I felt pity and decided to intervene.

"Just ignore him, Amber," I suggested. "He's not hurting anyone."

Amber sent me a betrayed look but lowered her hand back down to beside her blue shorts.

"What are we waiting for?" Xavier wondered. He had already begun walking towards the magic signature and had turned to beckon us.

"We lead," Amber said, quickly overtaking the boy. I hurried to catch up to her, which is something I seem to spend a lot of my time doing lately.

"Why are you being so hasty about this? I mean, it's not like you haven't been rushing missions before… but for this one, you seem to be a little bit more annoyed than usual. Is something wrong?" I asked my partner. Amber just sighed, which surprised me since she would usually glare instead.

"Something doesn't feel right to me and we might as well get this done quickly so that we won't have to worry about if we get to see tomorrow or not," Amber replied, not turning around to face me. I opened my mouth to say something back, like "Don't worry about it!" or another phrase that went in those lines, but for some reason, I couldn't. Amber has never said anything like this before, and in my opinion, she sounded a bit… nervous. I shut my mouth, continuing to walk closely behind her.

"I wish she could just open up to me sometimes," I thought.

I walked silently beside Amber, holding up my tablet to let it guide the way. The three recruits were following tamely, though I had the feeling Xavier was tempted to go off the path a couple times. "Do you think it will really be this easy?" I asked Amber. "Follow a trail and get the stone?"

"I don't know anything you don't," Amber grumbled. "How would I know?" She tossed her hands up in exasperation.

"Instinct?" I offered. Amber's reply was a disgusted sigh. I refrained from trying to start up another conversation, deciding I had already pushed my luck far enough with Amber for the time being.

A while later, Lily broke the silence. "What is that?" She wondered, her quiet voice full of awe.

"What?" I'd been staring at the tablet and looked up when she spoke. I immediately saw what she had been talking about. Out of the grasslands rose a city, a huge one. We could only just see the outline of the place, but I could tell it was massive. I glanced down at my tablet. "It looks like we may be going there," I informed.

"It's going to be hard to find a single stone in that," Amber mused.

"Luckily I'm really good at collecting!" Xavier said.

"Just make sure to only collect things that don't belong to other people," I cautioned.

"What's the fun in that?" Xavier wondered, sounding genuinely puzzled. I wasn't sure what to say to that really.

"Whatever, let's just go already," Amber said.

"Hey-ooh!" Ian replied with excitedly. Thankfully, it didn't look like Amber wanted to lash anything back at him and just kept walking towards our destination.

Eventually we arrived at the outskirts of the city with the magic detector still pointing straight at it. "Do you want to go in or should we make sure this is the location first?" I asked.

"We should check," Amber replied. "I'd rather not go in there unless we have too."

"Aww," Xavier said disappointedly. "I wanted to go in!"

"We still might," I told him soothingly.

"Stop coddling them," Amber snapped.

"It's not coddling, it's called being friendly," I grumbled back.

"How are we going to check that this city is truly where the stone is?" Lily wondered, thankfully drawing Amber's attention away from me.

"We walk around the city, if the signal still points inside all the way around, this is where it's indicating," Amber answered.

"Why don't we just go in?" Xavier asked. "Wouldn't that be faster?"

"Remember, this doesn't actually track the stones, this tracks magic," I explained. "It's been programmed to ignore our rings, but other small magics might start throwing it off when we get closer."

"So magic in the city could give us false readings," Lily inferred.

"Exactly. The city itself could be a false reading too," I admitted.

"Hey-ooh," Ian said thoughtfully.

"Hey-ooh indeed," Xavier mused, looking speculatively at the wall.

"Oh yeah, what are your elements, by the way? I totally forgot to ask," I brought up, curious about what my new teammates had up their sleeve. Amber seemed to be interested in the topic too; I guess she forgot about that as well.

"I have Electric!" Xavier said, holding up his ring on his finger. It had a bright yellow ribbon tied tightly around it, showing that he did have that element. Lily sighed, holding up hers and Ian's (probably because she knew Ian wouldn't do it on his own).

"I have Air and Ian has Fire." Lily added, showing her ring with a sky blue ribbon instead. Ian had his as well; the fire red ribbon resembling its respective element.

"Hey-ooh!" Ian said. I held up mine to show and Amber reluctantly did the same.

"I have Fire as well!" I informed, my ring looking similar to Ian's. "But because I'm a trained veteran, my ring looks a little bit different from Ian's. Same thing goes for Amber; her's is different too!" Amber nodded, her blue ribboned ring showing.

"I have Water, mainly using the Ice form of it," Amber stated, putting her hand back down. Xavier jumped up and down excitedly.

"Ooh, so we have all the basic elements with us, right?" he asked. I glanced at Amber, who, as always, glared right back at me. I let out a nervous chuckle, turning my attention back to the excited Electric-type in front of me.

"You could say that, I guess," I replied. Xavier's eyes lit up as he nodded his head. "There are four ring elements, Air, Fire, Water and Electric. I don't know why it is that way, it just is so don't bother asking me."

"Hey-" Ian was about to say his signature word, until he caught the deadly glare coming from Amber. He quickly shut his mouth as Amber just sighed.

"Come on," Amber said leading the way around the city limits. A brisk walk around the large area confirmed that the signal was coming from inside. We stopped at the edge again, Amber and I facing the recruits.

"You ready to go in?" I asked them.

"Yes," Lily replied, though she looked slightly nervous.

"Of course!" Xavier exclaimed, bouncing slightly in anticipation.

At Amber's dark look Ian simply nodded instead of risking her wrath with his catchphrase.

"Let's go then!" I said excitedly, leading the way.

Once we got inside, we decided to take a closer inspection of our area. Before going in, I asked Lily to take control over the tablet (since she seemed the most trustworthy one with handling things).

"Oh, veterans, I think something popped up," Lily called. Amber and I walked over to her, looking over her shoulder to see what was going on. Xavier and Ian also came by. On the tablet screen, there were a large crowd of dark purple circles heading towards us. Amber sighed.

"You know what that means, right Maia?" Amber asked. I nodded as Xavier and Lily eyed me curiously.

"What are you talking about?" Xavier questioned. Amber pointed to our path ahead of us. As we looked closer, we noticed a large group of men walking towards us. I pulled out my bow and arrow while Amber pulled out her sword hanging from her hilt.

"They're Distorters. A bunch of dark souled men working for the Time Baron, helping him by destroying the things in the Time Baron's way. And right now, it looks like the target is us." I explained.

"Dark souled men?" Lily asked nervously, gripping the handle of her double-headed scythe tightly as she held it in front of her.

"They're evil and stupid," Amber said. "Just don't get overconfident and you'll be fine."

"You all do know how to fight, don't you?" I asked.

"Yes," Lily replied, holding her scythe at the ready.

"I know what I'm doing," Xavier assured, swinging a small scythe at the end of a length of chain. A Kusarigama.

"Hey-ooh!" Ian announced. He hadn't pulled out a weapon, but he was sparking and his belt had unfurled to make a tail behind him.

"Here they come," Amber said. The men approached, clad in black. Their eyes matched, so dark not even their pupils were visible. They always gave me the creeps; they were basically zombies, but with less shambling. Simply tools for the Time Baron. My ring warmed as I prepared to fight.

"Xavier and Ian, go and take the left side! Maia and I will take right," Amber commanded, barking out orders like a lieutenant. She glanced over at Lily.

"Can you handle the middle group by yourself? There's a lot, and my advice is to watch your back," Amber said. Lily nodded, her scythe glowing a faint white aura.

"Of course," Lily replied, charging up towards that group. Amber then looked over at me, giving me a nod as she ran towards our section of the group. I smiled; she's back to her fighting self.

Pulling out an arrow from my bag, I snapped my fingers for it to turn into a flame arrow, placed it on my bow, pulled back the string, and shooting it. It hit two men, cleanly going through them. I then quickly switched my weapon out, beginning to shoot fireballs at my opponents, burning them until they turned to ashes; the state of which they truly were before the Time Baron reincarnated them.

Meanwhile, Amber's sword was slashing through as many people as it could, blocking and projecting back the elements that they threw at her. The wide, obsidian black blade was cloaked in an indigo ambience the contrasted greatly in comparison to Amber's bright, cerise eyes that showed nothing but darkness.

I spared a quick glance for our new recruits to make sure they were handling things alright. Xavier was swinging his Kusarigama around and slicing through any of the men in range. Ian was shooting lightning bolts at the further away ones, shouting, "hey-ooh!" every so often as he did so. Lily was in the middle, wielding her scythe and easily cutting through the ones who ventured too close to her, her hands swiftly switching around to hit as many targets as possible. I allowed myself a second to feel relief - they weren't total newbies after all, then focused on my own fight again. Really, Amber could probably handle all of our side without me. She was the better fighter anyway, but I wasn't going to stand back and be useless.

I reached for my bow again and began shooting more fire arrows at the dark men. Amber alternated between chopping them in half with her sword and shooting black fragments representing ice shards at them. Everyone on our side went down this way and we turned to the recruits. They were still handling themselves, though they were obviously less trained than Amber and I were. Xavier seemed fine, apparently he had boundless energy, but the other two were showing definite signs of fatigue.

"I'll help Ian," I called to Amber. The last thing we needed was her 'accidentally' hitting Ian with one of her shards the next time he yelled "hey-ooh" at one of the dark men. Amber nodded in agreement and I ran to the left, shooting off fireballs as I ran to break up the large groups of dark men. With my help, Ian and Xavier took care of the remaining ones. Amber and Lily finished around the same time and we stood, some of us panting, staring down at the field of ashes now spread before us.

"That was… more tiring… than I thought," Lily managed to say in a weary voice, her scythe stabbed into the ground as she placed her hands on her knees. Xavier wiped his forehead from all the sweat while Ian laid down, exhausted. Amber, who wasn't even breaking a sweat, just nodded her head in agreement.

"Well, trust me, there will be more upcoming," Amber said, turning to me. "Hurry up and burn the ashes before they reincarnate." I nodded, helping Ian stand up so that he would assist me in the job. As we were burning the ashes with our rings, I overheard Lily, Xavier and Amber discussing about the dark men.

"Why do we have to burn the ashes?" Lily asked.

"The Time Baron is planning on reusing these ashes to create more men, even stronger than the ones we just fought. So, to save ourselves the trouble of fighting them again Maia will burn these ashes. And with Ian on our team, I guess the process will be faster," Amber explained. Lily and Xavier only nodded.

"So only fire can be used?" Xavier asked. "My Electric element ring can't help?"

"Not as efficiently," Amber replied. "It's not like ashes really conduct electricity."

Xavier nodded his head in understanding.

"So what do we do now?" Lily asked, straightening up, though she leaned heavily on her scythe.

"Keep looking for the stone obviously," Amber said. "You done yet Maia?"

Ian and I were using our rings to create flames to completely destroy the ashes. As Ian was still new to all this, I was doing most of the work, but it was nice to have help. "We're done," I replied as I snapped my fingers, conjuring a flame that devoured the remaining ashes.

"Finally," Amber muttered, but not so quietly I didn't hear. "We can go now then."

"Hey-ooh!" Ian replied. I just smiled.

"Yeah, yeah. Let's get a move on," I said. Before I could take another step, however, something in the atmosphere changed. And I wasn't the only one who noticed, since it looked like everyone felt the same change as well.

"W-What's going on now?" Xavier asked nervously. "Are there more Distorters?" Lily shook her head, looking over at the tablet screen.

"No! There's no sign of them!" Lily said. I looked over at Amber, who looked less puzzled than I was.

"What's happening…?" Amber said.

"I don't know! Bu-!"

Before I could even finish my sentence, everything went white and when the world came back, we were somewhere completely different.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**Skylar POV**

The white light of the teleporter faded and I stumbled forward, accidentally bumping into Penelope, who simply fell over. Anthony sat next to her, either out of solidarity or because he was feeling queasy too.

"That was terrible," I moaned aloud.

"It's better than walking here," Gordon said coldly.

"And it'll be better next time!" Elliot assured.

"So where are we?" I wondered, taking stock of my surroundings. It was difficult as the only light in the sky was from the stars and a small sliver of moon.

"We are in the night zone," Gordon replied.

"It is very dark here," Elliot said, nodding as if he were saying something very intelligent. The conversation was interrupted by a ping from Gordon's bag. He pulled out his tablet to speak with the Headmaster, Maia and Amber. Their brief conversation culminated in Gordon having a magic tracking app on his tablet.

I peered over Gordon's shoulder at the screen with interest.

"It looks like I have a signal," Maia said. Elliot pushed himself into camera view.

"So do we!" Elliot added. I took a closer look at the tablet; the conversation screen was on the left while a green digital map was on the right, displaying small white dots in some areas. Gordon lightly shoved Elliot out of the way, making him grumble to himself.

"You must find those stones as soon as possible," Headmaster informed. "Good luck, and if you need me, I'll be right here." On the screen, Maia nodded her head.

"Thank you," she said. Ian's face then briefly appeared on the screen.

"Hey-ooh!" he exclaimed cheerfully. Gordon also nodded before closing the conversation window out.

"So what do we do now?" I asked. Elliot glanced at the magic tracker on the tablet.

"I guess we should just look for the Luna Stone. There seems to be more than one magical item around our area, so be careful," Elliot explained. Gordon chuckled.

"For once, you're speaking seriously," Gordon said. "I'm glad you found that part of yourself." Elliot just rolled his eyes, but smiled.

"Yeah, yeah, Mr. Tough Guy. Whatever you say." Elliot replied. Gordon's expression immediately changed then as he glared at his companion. Elliot, on the other hand, began to laugh. I stared at them a bit bewildered, I wasn't expecting the two veterans to argue so much.

"So which magical thing do we go towards?" I wondered, peering at the screen over Gordon's shoulder (which was easy because he wasn't particularly tall). The screen showed various sizes of small white lights pointing in all different directions.

"The Luna stone must be an incredibly powerful object," Penelope said quietly. "It should have a stronger reading than other things."

"True," Gordon said approvingly. "But less powerful objects that are very close to us will still show up more strongly on the detector."

"So we just have to guess?" I wondered.

"Yup!" Elliot said enthusiastically. "We get to go look at all these different magic things!"

"We don't have time to sightsee," Gordon reprimanded.

Gordon and Elliot continued to discuss, which was really more like arguing, about which object to look at first, and I spent the time taking a good look at my group. It had been rushed earlier and I hadn't gotten the chance.

I looked to my two fellow recruits first. They were both rather quiet, the boy more so than the girl, and they watched Elliot and Gordon silently. Penelope was tall, taller than me and Gordon in any case. She had auburn hair that fell just to the middle of her back, covering her black sweatshirt in a wave of dark orange. Her face was marked by a scar, staring at the base of her right eye and splitting her face right to her chin. Whatever had done that must've been nasty and Penelope had my respect for surviving whatever it was. She wore two rings, one, of course, was the ring we'd been given when we joined the organization, hers tied with a blue ribbon indicating water. The other was her own, a small golden ring with a sapphire embedded in it. Her hands were in the pockets of her black cargo pants as her feet, clad in gray sneakers, shifted from side to side in an attempt to warm up..

Anthony had his large black wings wrapped around himself like a personal blanket, something I was a bit jealous of. Not that the cold really bothered me, being a Froslass and all. Anthony's hair matched his wings, though, unlike his wings, the black of his hair was cut with streaks of bright red. The darkness of his wings and hair really brought out his pale features, his skin practically luminous in the faint moonlight. Under his eyes and on his cheeks, there were small blue marks, something that came of his being a Hydreigon I suppose. Most of his outfit was hidden by his wings, but I could still make out the bottoms of his jeans and the black boots he was wearing.

As for the veterans, Gordon wore a lab coat that covered much of his body, only the bottom of his brown slacks visible below and his head above. He generally wore an arrogant expression on his face as he stared at people with his grey-green eyes. His hair was a mess of black spikes and there were various metal bits integrated into his body, part of being a Magnezone.

Elliot, on the other hand, looked a lot more approachable. He was long-armed and lanky with pale skin. His black hair was neatly brushed, the edges of it fading into an aqua blue color. He had zipped up his blue jacket when we arrived to combat the chill in the air. The scarf he was wearing was similarly wrapped around him, tighter than one would on a warm day. Below his jacket he wore jeans and blue-black waterproof shoes.

As I was staring at Elliot's strange yellow eyes, the four of them started moving. I quickly followed, but had no idea where we were going and regretted not paying attention. "Where are we going?" I hissed at Anthony. He stared at me wide eyed, then looked at the ground and hurried ahead of me.

"He's really shy," Penelope explained quietly, taking the spot Anthony had vacated next to me. "We're going to the strongest signal. We're hoping that the Luna stone is powerful enough to overpower everything else around."

"Is that likely?" I wondered. Penelope shrugged. I thanked her and she slipped up to Anthony's side, the two seeming to take comfort in shared shyness or something. I don't know, I've never been a shy person.

The five of us continued walking and it was boring. The only light came from the moon and stars, neither of which were very bright, so I could only just make out the things closest to me. If I looked further into the distance, all I saw was darkness. Because of this, I wasn't really sure what kind of area we were in. We were walking across some kind of grass right now, but there could have been a desert a few paces away and I wouldn't have know.

"It's really hard to see," Elliot said, voicing my thoughts.

"That's because we're in the night zone," Gordon replied in a condescending tone.

"But it's _really_ hard to see," Elliot insisted.

Gordon sighed and pressed something on his tablet. A beam of light appeared from it, filling a small, circular area in front of him with gleaming white. The beam was rather small, however, so it only lit up extremely small areas.

"That's not very useful," I sighed.

"Well I don't see you doing anything to help," Gordon said defensively.

"I wasn't insulting you."

"Just let it go," Elliot suggested. "Gordon's touchy about being criticized."

"I am not," Gordon protested. "I was merely pointing out that I was more helpful than her."

"He also always has to have the last word," Elliot added.

"Not always," Gordon said, unintentionally proving Elliot's point. Elliot decided not to say anymore as he began to laugh.

"Anyways, do you have any idea of where we're heading?" I asked. Gordon pointed at the tablet, literally the only bright thing in this group.

"I have the map right here in my hands. Of course I know where we're heading," he retorted. I rolled my eyes.

"Whatever you say…" I mumbled to myself, hopefully quiet enough that the words wouldn't reach Gordon's ears. Luckily, they didn't, and he continued to walk along.

Every so often I'd take a peek at the tablet screen over Gordon's shoulder and saw the biggest light on there gradually get larger. "Are we getting close yet?" I wondered. I wasn't tired, I was just bored.

"I don't know," Gordon replied.

"This is boring," I complained.

"Sorry saving the world is boring," Gordon retorted.

"Why don't we play a game," Elliot suggested. "Like I-Spy!"

I looked at him, then at out completely dark surroundings. "I spy something beginning with d," I said flatly.

"Darkness?" Elliot guessed.

"Yep. Because that's the only thing I can see!"

"Will you two keep it down?" Gordon growled. "As you just pointed out, we can't see out there. There may be people or creatures out there and we don't want to draw their attention."

I made a face at him, but luckily it was lost in the darkness.

"Excuse me," Penelope said politely. "Anthony and I would like to take a break please."

"We don't have time for breaks," Gordon rejected.

"Anthony is -" Penelope began.

"Let him talk for himself," Gordon interrupted.

Even in the dark I could see Anthony's wide fearful eyes. He opened his mouth and got out, "I-I'm tired."

"We have to keep going," Gordon insisted.

"Hey, maybe it's time for a break," Elliot said to Gordon, trying to smooth things over. "We have been walking for a while now."

"It's not like we even know where we're going anyway," I pointed out. "That light could be nearby or it could be days away."

Gordon glared at everyone, but finally relented. "Fine," he got out. "We'll take a break." He sat on the ground, pressing buttons on his tablet, looking up every so often to glare at one of us.

"T-thank you for stopping," Anthony said, looking at the ground as he spoke.

"I was tired too," Penelope assured him.

"I wasn't, but I was bored," I said. "I didn't realize how uninteresting darkness is."

"It probably won't be like this for long," Elliot explained. "The Time Baron likely doesn't know where we are yet. When he finds out we'll have to be on our guard."

"Speaking of which…" Gordon then said, signalling Elliot to come. Once Elliot saw what was on the tablet, he grinned widely.

"Aw hell yeah! Finally we get some action!" he cheered. Penelope looked at him, confused and worried.

"What do you mean?" she asked softly. Gordon stood up, putting the tablet away and smacking the back of Elliot's head to make him stop jumping.

"Enemies up ahead. Get ready for them," Gordon said. "I knew taking a break was a bad idea," he muttered under his breath.

"What are we fighting?" I asked as I took hold of my bat and assumed a fighting stance.

"Distorters," Elliot said. "They're mindless henchmen of the Time Baron, so don't pull your punches."

"This will be fun then," I replied with a smirk.

"We should stand in a circular position," Gordon said as he directed us into a circular shape, our backs to the middle. "We can't see them well but we know they're coming for us. This way they won't get behind us."

"Right," I said, taking the spot between Penelope and Elliot. I could see both of them fairly well, but Gordon and Anthony were too far behind me to see, and even when I turned around they blended in too well with the darkness for me to see them clearly.

"I-I'm ready," Penelope said nervously as she fitted an arrow to her bow.

The sound of rushing water was the first sound of the fight, after that there was too much noise to distinguish the different sounds. The black-eyes Distorters came at me and I swung my bat at them. I started out aiming for the head, assuming that to be their weakest point, but soon realized that they weren't build like a normal living thing. Even my low power swings made the things just fall apart, the creature dissolving into black ashes. It seemed that their main danger was the number of them, a single one of these things on its own would never take someone down.

I changed my strategy from methodically hitting them one by one to swinging my bat in a wide arc in front of me. This hit more of them and was easier for me. A quick glance to the side showed Penelope shooting an arrow that went through one in front of her continuing backwards to hit several more before ending its flight. On my other side, Elliot was gleefully shooting jets of water at the creatures, seemingly having a great time. I turned my attention back to my own enemies and continued to swing my bat.

I lost track of time and how many of the things I'd taken down as the fight progressed, but eventually no more of the Distorters appeared before me. "Is it over?" I asked.

"Yes," Gordon said, his voice drifting to my ears from his position behind me. "They're gone for now."

"Ca-can we have another break?" Penelope asked, the stutter caused by exhaustion rather than nervousness this time.

"More will be coming," Gordon said. I turned to face him as did the others, our circle now facing inward rather than out. "We should continue." I wasn't particularly tired yet, so that was fine with me. Anthony and Penelope, however, both showed obvious signs of disappointment at the decision.

"Before we leave we need to burn the ashes," Elliot pointed out. "Anthony, you're ring is a fire element ring, right?" Anthony nodded, a motion that was barely visible in the low light. "We need you to set the ashes on fire," Elliot explained.

Anthony nodded again and turned away to look at the ashes. There was a sudden burst of flame which lit up the air and incinerated the ashes. My eyes burned at the sudden brightness and I quickly turned away, no point getting my eyes used to light when it would be gone soon anyway.

"How would you guys burn these ashes originally? Neither of you guys are Fire wielders," I pointed out.

"I can use my Electric ring, but it is much less efficient than using a fire ring," Gordon explained. I nodded.

"Or we do it the old fashioned way," Elliot said, waving a box of matches at me.

"But that always ends with you burning something we're not supposed to," Gordon added, snatching the matches away. Elliot pouted.

"Interesting," I replied.

As we journeyed farther, we still followed the same path, making sure to look at the tracker on the tablet from time to time.

We were getting pretty close to whatever it was when there was a sudden flash. I was temporarily blinded by the flash, and when my eyes finally adjusted to the bright light, I noticed that the light wasn't disappearing. "Why is it bright out?" I asked with trepidation. We appeared to be standing in front of some sort of city. "That wasn't there before was it?"

"It didn't become light. We were sent to the day zone," Gordon corrected. "And whatever it was that sent us here seems to have done something to my tablet. Communications are down."

"So we can't talk to the others," Elliot surmised. "Do you think they switched too?"

"How should I know?" Gordon demanded.

"Just a question."

"It doesn't matter anyway. Now that we're here, we need to find the Sol Stone." He pressed a button on the tablet and frowned.

"What is it?" I asked warily.

"That magic tracking app is down as well. We're blind."

"I think we should investigate the city then," Elliot said, pointing at the stone buildings. "It's the only thing we can do. We might find something, and possibly the Sol Stone!"

"We can't just find a magical stone in a remote place like this," Gordon retorted. "That would take forever, we don't even know what it looks like." For once, I agreed with the arrogant knucklehead.

"True, but hey, it's worth a shot." Elliot replied, shrugging his shoulders. Gordon sighed, putting the tablet to sleep to save it's battery life.

"Fine. But sense anything suspicious and we're immediately leaving, understood?" Gordon questioned. We all nodded in response, following him into the strange city.

We hadn't taken more than ten steps and I already had a bad feeling about this place. I mean, its not like I was scared or anything, it just kinda gave me the creeps. The buildings looked like ruins, rubble and debris littering the ground haphazardly. And the atmosphere this old city had was not a good one.

I had to look carefully at where I was stepping as the rubble was everywhere. Anthony wasn't as careful and stepped on a piece that slid right out from under him. Luckily, he caught himself with his wings before he could topple over.

"Careful," Gordon chastised unnecessarily.

"This place is spooky," Elliot observed. "Do you really think one of the stones are here?"

"I have no idea," Gordon growled. "How would I?"

"You always act like you know everything."

"I know more than you do."

"Uh, can you guys stop arguing?" I pleaded. "I don't think we want to attract too much attention here." The only sounds in the city were the ones being made by our group. Nowhere should be this quiet, the night zone wasn't. Even without being able to see anything I could still hear the wildlife there. Here, there was nothing. Just complete silence.

"I'll talk if I want to," Gordon grumbled, though he was quiet after that.

It felt like hours walking around this abandoned place. Seriously, I felt like we were walking in a complete circle, thinking that we were going a different way every time.

"Don't you find it kinda weird that we just happened to end up here in front of a city like this?" Elliot asked. "When we were sent to the night zone, the teleporter transported us to a completely remote spot. And based off Maia's background when we were talking with her, she was in a remote place as well."

"I-It's probably just a coincidence?" Penelope suggested. Just then, the tablet woke up from it's sleep, the screen flashing green. Gordon look at it, noticing that it was a call from Maia's team.

"I guess communications are fixed," I mused, walking over to Gordon's spot to look. Amber's face was on the screen, making Gordon groan.

"I thought Maia was going to be the caller but no…" Gordon complained. Amber rolled her eyes.

"Just shut up and listen to what I have to say," Amber snapped. "We were in the day zone in front of a city, then we were suddenly in the night zone. Based on the light behind your giant head, it looks like you're not here with us," Amber said.

"You were by a city? We were sent to a city. Could it be the same one?" I theorized.

Amber shrugged. "I don't know. It's possible."

"I think we may have swapped places," Lily said, her face appearing on the screen.

"Do you think it will happen again?" I wondered.

"I have no idea!" Amber said.

"We should act on the assumption that it will happen again," Gordon decided. "So we need to keep making marks we can easily recognize so we can tell it we've actually swapped places."

"We're in a desert of some sort. There are plenty of rocks around, I'll have Lily mark one with her scythe. She'll mark every rock we come across with a number, so if you end up by the highest number, then we'll know you were just where we were," Maia said. We didn't see her, but it's mainly because it was pretty dark over there.

"Wait- how come we can see your faces perfectly fine? The tablet screen isn't that bright, and it's pitch black over there," Gordon pointed out. Amber smirked.

"I think you're forgetting that we have two Fire users on our team. Ian made two torches from the wood Xavier found and picked up." Amber said.

"Hey-ooh!" Ian shouted, his face briefly appearing on the screen before disappearing again. Elliot smiled, nodding his head.

"That'd explain it. Smart! Gordon didn't think of that," Elliot commented. Gordon glared at his partner.

"Is that all you wanted to say?" Gordon growled. Amber nodded.

"That's all, grumpy pants. Good luck," The call ended immediately after Amber said those words. Gordon cursed under his breath, turning the tablet back off and turning to us.

"Hopefully we won't switch again, but we need to be prepared in case we do," Gordon said.

"W-we should probably make a s-sign for them too," Anthony added. Elliot grinned, patting Anthony on the back, causing him to flinch.

"Great idea Anthony!" Elliot looked around. "Just… where?"

"Here," I said, grabbing a small piece of rubble from the ground. I walked to the closest wall and rubbed the piece of rubble against the wall. It left white lines in its path. "What should I write?"

"Amber is an idiot," Gordon suggested. I ignored that.

"A number one?" Elliot replied. "We could number our marks like Amber's team is doing."

"Alright," I said leaving a large number one on the wall.

"Time for more looking around!" Elliot exclaimed.

"Keep your eyes open," Gordon said. "Remember we need to find the Sol Stone."

"And if it's not here…?" I asked. "Looking for a magic stone in a totally remote and vast city is easier said than done."

"Then we leave," Gordon responded. I shrugged my shoulders; I guess it was the only option we had. I took another step forward, but felt the atmosphere around me change. I'd felt this before. Right before we'd ended up in the daytime.

"Get ready for the switch, guys!" I announced. Gordon and Elliot nodded while Penelope and Anthony froze up.

And just like that, we were gone.


End file.
